Cascading through the main public library in Abilene, Texas, 400 individually glass ribbons and bubbles in a rainbow of colors hang from the air. Artist Carlyn Ray created Gathered Radiance (2026) with members of the Abilene community as a site-specific public-art project at the Abilene Public Library on the city's cultural campus known as Abilene Heritage Square.
As a 7th grader at a Dallas Episcopal school, Carlyn Ray listened to a teacher’s lesson about finding your path and purpose, and decided at that moment she would use her art to help others. She had already fallen in love with glass, and remembers “things kind of shifted, I wanted to use art to help others like myself. I wanted to use glass as a way of sharing light..”
In a video interview with Glass, Ray closed her eyes, gesticulating as she spoke about the creation of Gathered Radiance and the collaborative aspect of her art.
Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet: Can you share a bit about how you approach working with others in your art practice, and elaborate on what you mean when you talk about “creating opportunities” for collaboration in your approach to your recent public-art commission, Gathered Radiance?
Carlyn Ray: When I'm designing a piece, I see the energy, the feeling, the flow of the piece and then, in that design, there are elements I know I can share the artistic creation with others. And in this piece, it's what I call "ribbons", and how I wanted those to feel like they are spanning the space. I love the idea of creating where the sculpture is born. During my exhibition at the Grace Museum, above the exhibition I hosted a workshop open to anyone to come in and decorate the ribbons. So they were really able to hear my story and see my pieces, and have them decorate the glass and that we would be collaborating and creating a piece together.
And we hosted a lot of leaders in the community back at the studio, so we blew glass in front of them. I made a piece and talked about my story and the history of glass. I shared the nuances and the beauty of the production and creation of glass and we had that group of people decorate butterflies. On a different day we welcomed, though my non profit, Art Reaching Out, which included 40 individuals in AP art students from underserved communities. My non-profit serves participants between 6th or 8th grade and their senior year, there are specific target groups we hit. We highlight what we call TEKS here, which are educational requirements here in Texas, teaching STEM or STEAM topics through glassblowing. These AP art students came to my studio and then they all blew glass and got to keep their glass piece, but also decorated ribbons and were part of the library piece. With this idea that the library does not only serve those in Abilene but also those in the greater Abilene area. For the rural areas around there, it's a hub to share education and so it was really important to me but also to the leadership of the library to have all different hands and hearts be involved in this piece, not just leaders of the community but also those seeking art and using the space.
Glass: Could you describe the energy in the rooms where this collaboration was happening?
Ray: There's this light that pops on when I say I could make this or my team could make this in house, but it's more special when we share it with you. We asked people what makes Abilene special to you, what stories are created in your piece. A lot of the time they bring in loved ones who have passed away, they bring in that spirit. One person did a trellis that stood for a railroad. Abilene was created with this idea of the railroad, a stop next to the railroad. And so it brings in different energies and stories into the pieces that are beyond what I know and it makes the whole piece more meaningful. So when I share that [experience, the students] are bringing that meaning and making the piece more special. A light pops on in their eyes that reminds them that they are special and that their story matters, that they matter, and that it is really important for me to share. For them then to see the piece and to see how other people are looking at the piece and admiring their work, and that they are a part of something larger.
It's about how I felt working for Dale [Chihuly], being a part of a team and creating something. Then seeing it in the wild, it was like "Wow, I helped create that!" That's a beautiful heart-centered space to open, how can I share that with others?
Glass: How was the opening of the library and unveiling of the piece?
Ray: Some of the people would just get tears in their eyes, looking up at their piece. Just how special that is, that it's going to be up for generations, and having this in their community. I felt most, these strong emotions that were coming up in them that were just so raw. And from us sharing in these workshops, I'm very vulnerable when I share, and I think that opens the door for them [the community members] to be more vulnerable. So that when they saw me they were flooded with these deep and heartfelt emotions, and just pouring out, about how much this means for them to be involved, how much joy they feel when they see their piece, their whole aura just lights up. It was these real connections that were, for me, the highlight of creating this piece. Creating these connections that I know will stay and continue to be threaded through the piece and through the story, each person's story of the piece as they tell it. The story it has now and how it resonates with the community of Abilene.